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Judge Cousins said: ‘You didn't see who it was, but instinctively you struck behind you with your crutch.

‘When you turned, Mr Daniel was there and you accept you tried to take hold of him and he fell to the floor and then you accept that you struck Mr Daniel three times with your crutch when he was on the floor.

'Imprison you at home': The judge told Ross that if he was younger or had a history of violence, he would have got a jail term, instead he was handed a curfew

‘There was something which provoked
you to behave this way. However, an elderly man on the floor being hit
with an implement is very serious.

‘If
you were a young man or had a record of any violence then this would be
a case of custody, but I am going to imprison you at home and deal with
you in the community.’

Ross, who walked into court with the aid of two crutches, confirmed this version of events by simply saying: ‘Correct.’

Ross pleaded guilty and was handed a curfew order.

The judge added that Ross's account was not ‘materially different’ from that of his victim and that she needed to hear no further evidence before passing sentence on one charge of assault by beating.

She said: ‘Unpaid work is not appropriate, given (Ross's) age and disability. It might be that a curfew is appropriate.’

Another of Ross's neighbours, who refused to be identified, said that Ravenfield's elderly residents were afraid of him.

A petition has been signed by 20 residents branding him a nuisance neighbour and demanding he is evicted.

Asked by the judge whether he had anything to say for himself, Ross accepted that he could have handled his confrontation with Mr Daniel without violence.

Ross said: ‘I would like to forget the whole issue and I can only apologise to the bench profusely.'

Despite what his neighbours said, Ross added: ‘I
am not an aggressive person and I can only apologise for the
inconvenience that this has caused you this morning. I would adhere to a
curfew, obviously.’

Neighbourly squabble: Ross's confrontation with Mr Daniel is thought to have come about after an argument over the cutting of grass and washing of wheelie bins on the cul-de-sac road they live on (pictured)

After consulting with probation service officers, the judge sentenced Ross to a four-month curfew confining him to his home between 7pm and 7am.

Ross, who set up his own political group called the John Lilburne Democratic Party, was also made the subject of a restraining order which banned him from approaching Mr Daniel or witnesses to the incident for two years.

The judge told him: ‘This hangs over your head for two years and if you break the conditions you will be sent to prison.’

Rotherham Magistrates Court (pictured) was told that Ali approached the abuse victim - who gave evidence in the recent crown court trial in which his father was convicted - in the South Yorkshire Town in March last year

The judge also ordered Ross to pay court costs of £100 and compensation to Mr Daniel of £200.

Mr Daniel's daughter Jill Dungworth, 53, said that the family were ‘very disappointed’ with the sentence.

She said: ‘It's disgusting. I don't think my dad's the same person since the attack and Ross has just got to pay £300.

‘It's shocking to think that if he were 50-years-old he would have gone to prison.’

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Barry Ross: Former councillor beat 80-year-old neighbour with his crutch while he lay on the ground in row over wheelie bins and grass cutting